Inkjet recording device

ABSTRACT

In an inkjet recording device, ink droplets remaining on a nozzle surface are wiped off and the wiped off ink droplets are prevented from being scattered so as to stably form good quality images. When the wiper blade wiping the nozzle surface of the recording heads to wipe off the ink droplets and the like is separated from the nozzle surface and the bend of the wiper blade is straightened to restore to its idle position, a reaction force eliminating member absorbs the reaction force generated and softly restores the wiper blade to its idle position. As a result, the reaction force caused when the bend of the wiper blade is suddenly straightened is controlled, thereby preventing the ink drops and foreign matter on the header of the wiper blade from being scattered and avoiding the contamination of the inside of the inkjet recording device.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This disclosure relates to an inkjet recording device for printingimages on a printing medium by ejecting ink, and more particularly to awiping device for eliminating fluid attached to the nozzle of the inkjetprinter.

2. Description of the Related Art

An inkjet recording device is generally required to have a mechanism formaintaining the performance of the recording head that ejects inkdroplets. As the functions of the mechanism, there are, for example, acapping function to prevent the nozzles ejecting ink droplets fromdehydrating, a pumping function to fill the recording head with ink, anda nozzle cleaning function to clean the surface of the nozzle array ofthe recording head. Among those functions, the nozzle cleaning functionis important, because when ejected ink droplets remain on the nozzlesurface or foreign matter adheres to the nozzle surface, ink dropletsmay be ejected in the undesired direction or may become unable to beejected, thereby seriously degrading the printing quality and imageforming performance.

Furthermore, the speed of image forming processing has been increased inrecent inkjet recording devices. To that end, throughputs improved byincreasing the number of nozzles of the recording head so that more inkdroplets can be ejected in a single scan. As a result, more ink dropletsmay be left behind on the nozzle surface and the remaining ink dropletsare wiped off with a wiper blade. However, when the nozzle surface iswiped off by the wiper blade as described, there is a problem that theink droplets wiped off from the nozzle surface and adhered to the wiperblade may be flicked off at the moment when the wiper blade is separatedfrom the recording head after wiping the nozzle surface due to theelastic reaction of the wiper blade, thereby contaminating the inside ofthe printer body with the spattered ink droplets and degrading theprinting quality.

To prevent the ink droplets adhered to the wiper blade from flicking offfrom the wiper blade, according to an inkjet recording device disclosedin the Patent Document 1 below, the wiper blade separates from thenozzle surface after passing the middle of the nozzle surface but beforepassing the end of the nozzle surface so that the wiper blade and therecording head are no longer in contact after the elastically deformedcondition of the wiper blade is released.

Further, according to an inkjet recording device disclosed in the PatentDocument 2 below, when the ink droplets left behind on the nozzlesurface of the recording head are wiped with a wiper blade capable ofmoving in the direction vertical to the height direction of the nozzlesurface of the recording head, a carriage on which the recording head ismounted while performing a round-trip scanning movement is stopped inthe middle of wiping operations while the wiper blade is bent. Then thewiper blade is moved to wipe the remaining nozzle surface while thewiper blade is gradually being lowered so as to reduce the elasticdeformation of the wiper bade, thereby reducing the amount of flickedink droplets.

According to an inkjet recording device disclosed in the Patent Document3 below, the wiper member for wiping off the nozzle surface of arecording head includes an ink absorbing section having elastic andsuperior water-absorbing characteristics and a wiping section providedadjacent to the ink absorbing section, closer to the nozzle surface thanthe ink absorbing section, and having lower water-absorbingcharacteristics. As a result, the wiping section wipes the ink dropletsand the paper dust on the nozzle surface and then the wiped ink dropletsand the like are absorbed into the ink absorbing section, therebypreventing the ink droplets from scattering.

Further, according to an inkjet recording device disclosed in the PatentDocument 4 below, there is provided an escape surface on the downstreamside of the recording head (on the side where the wiper blade separatesfrom the recording head) such that the height direction of the recordinghead vertical to the nozzle surface is gradually reduced as the wiperblade approaches the end of the downstream side of the recording head.Because of this structure, when the wiper blade wiping the nozzlesurface proceeds to wipe the escape surface, the elastic deformation ofthe wiper blade is gradually reduced, thereby preventing the remainingink droplets on the header of the wiper blade from flicking off causedby the reaction force due to suddenly eliminating the elasticdeformation of the wiper blade.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No: 3234087

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No:2006-192693

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No: 2003-1833

Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication No:2002-79680

However, when the wiper blade separates from the nozzle surface afterpassing the middle of the nozzle surface but before passing the end ofthe nozzle surface as described in the Patent Document 1, or when thewiper blade gradually recedes from the nozzle surface during the wipingoperations as described in the Patent Document 2, the portion betweenthe middle to the end of the nozzle surface cannot be sufficiently wipeddue to insufficient contacting pressure exerted by the wiper blade. As aresult, the nozzle surface cannot be cleaned sufficiently and,disadvantageously, the ink droplets remaining on the nozzle surface dueto the insufficient cleaning may contaminate recording paper.

Further, even when the wiper blade is arranged so that the wipingsection having lower water-absorbing characteristics wipes the inkdroplets and the paper dust on the nozzle surface, and then the wipedink droplets and the like are absorbed into the ink absorbing sectionhaving superior water-absorbing characteristics as described in thePatent Document 3, the ink droplets may not be sufficiently absorbedinto the ink absorbing section in a case where the paper dust adheres tothe surface of the ink absorbing section.

Still further, the ink absorbing section is usually formed of aninterconnected porous material so as to have water-absorbingcharacteristics. Since the holes of the porous material are likely to besealed with a material such as the pigment of ink, the ink absorbingsection may not stably absorb ink droplets for the long term. As aresult, unfortunately, the scattering of ink droplets cannot besufficiently prevented.

Further, since the wiper member includes an ink absorbing section havingelastic and superior water-absorbing characteristics and a wipingsection having lower water-absorbing characteristics, the structure ofthe wiper member is complicated, thereby complicating the formingprocess and increasing the cost of the wiper member.

Further, since the escape surface is formed on the downstream side ofthe nozzle surface to be wiped with the wiper blade as described in thePatent Document 4, the wiper blade cannot contact the escape surfacewith sufficient contact pressure. As a result, more ink droplets arelikely to be left behind on the escape surface. In addition, if the leftink droplets are accumulated on the escape surface, the accumulated inkdroplets may contaminate recording paper.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an aspect of this disclosure, there is provided an inkjet recordingdevice capable of wiping the nozzle surface to the end of the nozzlesurface with sufficient contact pressure so as to wipe off the remainingink droplets on the nozzle surface, thereby preventing the wiped inkdroplets from scattering to stably form good quality images.

According to another aspect, there is provide an inkjet recording deviceincluding a recording head ejecting ink droplets to record a characterand an image onto a recording medium, a carriage with the recording headmounted thereon performing a round-trip scanning movement, a wipingunit, and a blade elevating unit disposed within a scanning range of thecarriage and moving the wiping unit upward and downward in the heightdirection of the nozzle surface of the recording head. The wiping unitincludes a wiper blade made of an elastic body and formed in a flatplate shape for wiping a nozzle surface of the recording head, and areaction force eliminating member reducing a reaction force of the wiperblade generated when a wiping operations of the wiper blade isterminated.

According to another aspect, the reaction force eliminating member has aspring characteristic, is made of a material having a Young's modulushigher than that of the wiper blade, and has a flat plate shape.

According to still another aspect, a supporting unit supports the wiperblade and the reaction force eliminating member has convex partsprovided one on each upper end part thereof, the convex parts face thewiper blade, and the wiper blade and the reaction force eliminatingmember stand substantially upright on the supporting unit.

According to still another aspect, the supporting unit is removablyattached to the blade elevating unit.

According to another aspect, the header of the wiper blade wipes thenozzle surface of the recording head to wipe off the ink droplets andthe like on the nozzle surface. When the header of the nozzle surfaceseparates from the nozzle surface, the reacting force eliminating memberabsorbs the reaction force of the wiper blade so that the bent wiperblade is restored to its upright original position. As a result, thereaction force that would be otherwise generated by suddenly restoringthe bent blade can be controlled, the scattering of the ink droplets andthe foreign matter on the header of the wiper blade can be effectivelyprevented, and the contamination inside the inkjet recording device canbe avoided accordingly.

Further, the reaction force generated when the bent wiper blade isrestored can be stably absorbed when the reaction force eliminationmember is formed so as to have a spring characteristic, made of amaterial having a Young's modulus higher than that of the wiper blade,and has a flat plate shape.

Further, convex parts are provided one each on surfaces of the upperportion of the reaction force eliminating member such that the convexparts face the wiper blade. Then the supporting unit supports thereaction force eliminating member and the wiper blade so that thereaction force eliminating member and the wiper blade stand upright tosecure the position accuracy of the wiper blade and the reaction forceeliminating member, thereby enabling the secure absorption of thereaction force when the bent wiper blade is restored.

Further, the wiper blade can be easily replaced when the supporting unitis provided so as to be attached to and detached from the bladeelevating unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording device according toan embodiment of the present invention when viewed from a front side;

FIG. 2 is a cut-open side view showing the configuration of a mechanicalpart of the inkjet recording device;

FIG. 3 is a top view showing the configuration of a mechanical part ofthe inkjet recording device;

FIG. 4 is a cut-open perspective view showing a maintaining andrestoring mechanical part of the inkjet recording device;

FIG. 5 is a drawing showing a wiper blade used in the inkjet recordingdevice;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are drawings showing the configuration of a reactionforce eliminating member used in the inkjet recording device;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are drawings showing the configuration of a supportingmember used in the inkjet recording device;

FIG. 8 is a drawing showing the configuration of a blade elevatingmechanical part used in the inkjet recording device;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are drawings showing where the supporting member isengaged with the blade elevating member; and

FIGS. 10A through 10C are drawings showing the wiping operation of thewiper blade.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording device according toan embodiment of the present invention when viewed from a front side.The inkjet recording device includes a device main body 1, a paperfeeding tray 2 attached to the device main body 1 and storing recordingpapers, a paper discharging tray 3 attached to the device main body 1and storing the recording papers on which images are recorded. An uppercover 4 is provided above the device main body 1 so as to be opened andclosed. There is a cartridge mounting section 6 projected through a partof a front surface 5 of the device main body 1 and lower than the uppercover 4. There is an operating section 7 above the cartridge mountingsection 6, including operation keys and a display. The cartridgemounting section 6 includes a front cover 8 to be opened and closed, andwhile the front cover 8 is opened, ink cartridges 9 which are main tanksfor supplying inks can be detached and attached.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a mechanical part of the inkjet recording device. Themechanical part includes a guide rod 11, a stay 12, a carriage 13, andrecording heads 14. The guide rod 11 and the stay 12 are guiding membersplaced laterally between the side plates of the device main body 1.Further, the guide rod 11 and the stay 12 hold the carriage 13 so thatthe carriage 13 can slide in a main scanning direction. The carriage 13is moved in the main scanning direction by a main scanning motor (notshown). In the carriage 13, there are attached recording heads 14including the inkjet heads that eject the ink droplets of thecorresponding colors of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black(B). The plural ink ejecting openings of the inkjet heads are arrangedin the direction vertical to the main scanning direction and the inkejected from the plural ink ejecting openings is directed downward. Asan energy generating unit for ejecting the ink droplets, for example, adevice such as a piezoelectric device, a thermal actuator utilizing thephase change due to the film boiling phenomenon of fluid using anelectrothermal conversion device such as a heat-generating resistormember, a shape-memory-alloy actuator utilizing the metallic phasechange due to temperature change, and an electrostatic actuatorutilizing electrostatic power may be used. In this embodiment, forexample, the piezoelectric actuator is used in the recording head 14.

In addition, in the carriage 13, there are sub tanks 15 that are fluidcontainers for supplying each ink to the corresponding recording head14. Each ink is supplied from the corresponding ink cartridge 9 to thecorresponding sub tank 15 via the corresponding ink supply tube 16. Theink cartridges 9 store the corresponding inks of yellow (Y), cyan (C),magenta (M), and black (B) as the color components of the inkjetrecording device. The sub tanks 15 supply the ink to the recording heads14 and the ink cartridges 9 supply the ink to the sub tanks 15. The subtanks 15 and the ink cartridges 9 constitute an ink supplying device.

In the inkjet recording device, there is a paper feeding section forfeeding the recording papers 18 accumulated on the paper accumulatingsection (thick plate) 17 of the paper feeding tray 2. The paper feedingsection includes a half-moon roller (paper feeding roller) 19 and aseparation pad 20. The half-moon roller (paper feeding roller) 19separates and feeds one sheet of recording papers 18 at a time from thepaper accumulating section 17. The separation pad 20 faces the paperfeeding roller 19. The separation pad 20 is pressed toward the side ofthe paper feeding roller 19.

Further, in the inkjet recording device, there is a feeding section forfeeding the recording papers 18 from the paper feeding tray 2 to aposition below the recording heads 14 through a guide 21. The feedingsection includes a conveying belt 22, a counter roller 23, a conveyingguide 24, a pressing member 25, a head pressure roller 26, a chargeroller 27, a conveying roller 28, a tension roller 29, and a guidemember 30. The conveying belt 22 electrostatically attracts and conveysthe recording paper 18. The counter roller 23 sandwiches the recordingpaper 18 from the paper feeding section through the guide 21 with theconveying belt 22 to convey the sandwiched recording paper 18. Theconveying guide 24 changes the feeding direction of the recording paper18 fed substantially vertically upward by substantially 90 degrees sothat the recording paper 18 is placed on the conveying belt 22. The headpressure roller 26 is pressed toward the conveying belt 22 by thepressing member 25. The charge roller 27 is a charging unit for chargingthe surface of the conveying belt 22. Herein, the conveying belt 22 isan endless belt suspended between the conveying roller 28 and thetension roller 29 so as to rotate in the belt conveying direction asshown in FIG. 3. The charge roller 27 contacts the surface of theconveying belt 22 and is disposed so that the charge roller 27 rotatesaccording to the rotation of the conveying belt 22.

At the rear side of the conveying belt 22, there is the guide member 30disposed corresponding to the printing area defined by the recordingheads 14. The upper surface of the guide member 30 protrudes to the sideof the recording heads 14 beyond the upper tangent line between theconveying roller 28 and the tension roller 29 each roller supporting theconveying belt 22. Because of this structure, the conveying belt 22 ispressed upward and guided by the upper surface of the guide member 30,thereby maintaining the high-precision flatness of the conveying belt22.

Further, in the inkjet recording device, there is a discharging sectionfor discharging the recording paper 18 recorded on by the recordingheads 14. The discharging section includes a separating click 31 andpaper discharging rollers 32 and 33. The separating click 31 separatesthe recording paper 18 from the conveying belt 22. The paper dischargingtray 3 is disposed below the paper discharging roller 32. The positionbetween the paper discharging rollers 32 and 33 is set higher to someextent than the paper discharging tray 3 so that as many recordingpapers 18 as possible can be stored in the paper discharging tray 3.

Further, a double-sided paper feeding unit 34 is removably attached tothe rear side of the device main body 1. The double-sided paper feedingunit 24 receives the recording paper 18 returned by the reverse rotationof the conveying belt 22, turns the recording paper 18 over, and feedsthe recording paper 18 to a position between the counter roller 28 andthe conveying belt 22 again. On the double-sided paper feeding unit 34,there is a manual paper feeding unit 35.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, there is a maintaining and restoringmechanical section 36 disposed in a non-printing area on one side in thescanning direction of the carriage 13. The maintaining and restoringmechanical section 36 is a reliability maintaining unit for maintainingand restoring the condition of the nozzles of the recording heads 14.Further, there is an ink collecting container 37 disposed in anothernon-printing area on the other side in the scanning direction of thecarriage 13.

As shown in FIG. 4, the maintaining and restoring mechanical section 36includes capping members 38 a through 38 d, a suction pump 39, a suctioncap 40 in communication with the suction pump 39, a wiping unit 41 forcleaning the nozzle surface by wiping, and an ink collecting section 42.The capping members 38 a through 38 d cap the nozzle surface to preventthe nozzles of the recording heads 14 from drying. The suction pump 39is provided for filling the recording heads 14 with ink.

The wiping unit 41 includes a wiper blade 43, a reaction forceeliminating member 44, a supporting member 45, and a blade elevatingmechanical section 46. The wiper blade 43 is made of an elastic materialsuch a rubber elastic material and formed in a tabular shape as shown inFIG. 5. The wiper blade 43 includes plural, for example three, attachingholes 47 on the middle lower side of the wiper blade 43. The wiper blade43 wipes off the ink droplets and foreign matter attached to the nozzlesurface while pressing the header section of the wiper blade 43 towardthe nozzle surface. The reaction force eliminating member 44 has aspring characteristic and is made of a material having a Young's modulushigher than the wiper blade 43 has such as Ethylene Propylene MethyleneLinkage (EPML) and silicon as an elastic material, stainless andaluminum as the metallic material of a non-elastic material, and ABS andpolyoxymethylene (POM) as a resin material and formed in a tabular shapeas shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The reaction force eliminating member 44includes a blade contacting section 49 and attaching holes 50. The bladecontacting section 49 has two convex parts 48 provided one on each upperside so that the convex parts 48 contact the wiper blade 43. Theattaching holes 50 are formed in the middle part of the reaction forceeliminating member 44.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the wiper blade 43 and the reaction forceeliminating member 44 are attached to the supporting member 45 such thatthe convex parts 48 formed on the blade contacting section 49 of thereaction force eliminating member 44 face and contact the wiper blade43. The supporting member 45 has a boss 51 at the middle lower part forelevating the supporting member 45 and a pair of guide rollers 52provided on each end side in the width direction. The blade elevatingmechanical section 46 is provided between the both ends in the widthdirection as shown in FIG. 4 and includes guide grooves 53 for guidingthe guide rollers 52 of the supporting member 45 and an axle cam 55having a plate cam 54 at one end of the axle cam 55 as shown in FIG. 8.The plate cam 54, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, has a cam groove 56 onthe surface of the plate cam 54 for engaging the boss 51 for elevatingthe supporting member 45 and a cut-out section 57 disposed substantiallywhere the cam groove 56 is closest to the rotating center of the camgroove 56 so that the boss 51 is inserted through the cut-out section57. The axle cam 55 is supported by plural guide sections 58 and has arotation transmission section 59 connected to a rotation driving section(not shown) through the other end of the rotation transmission section59.

To configure the wiping unit 40, first, the axle cam 55 of the bladeelevating mechanical section 46 is positioned so that the cut-outsection 57 of the plate cam 54 is positioned at the top of the plate cam54. Next, the guide rollers 53 of the supporting member 45 with thewiper blade 43 and the reaction force eliminating member 44 attached tothe supporting member 45 are inserted into the guide grooves 53. Then,the boss 51 for elevating the supporting member 54 is inserted into thecut-out section 54 so that the boss 51 is engaged into the cam groove56. In this manner, the supporting member 45 is attached to the bladeelevating mechanical section 46 to configure the wiping unit 40.According to this mechanism where the supporting member 45 with thewiper blade 43 and the reaction force eliminating member 44 fixed to thesupporting member 45 is attached to the blade elevating mechanicalsection 46, the wiper blade 43 and the reaction force eliminating member44 are raised and lowered according to the movement of the supportingmember 45 up and down by rotating the axle cam 55 so as to move the boss51 upward and downward along the cam groove 56 of the plate cam 54.

The operation of wiping off the ink droplets and foreign matter attachedto the nozzle surface of the recording heads 14 using the wiper blade 43being moved upward and downward by the blade elevating mechanicalsection 46 is described with reference to FIGS. 10A through 10C.

When the recording heads 14 moving at a constant speed of the carriage13 approach the maintaining and restoring mechanical section 36, thesupporting member 45 with the wiper blade 43 and the reaction forceeliminating member 44 fixed to the supporting member 45 is raised byrotating the axle cam 55 of the blade elevating mechanical section 46 tothe position where the reaction force eliminating member 44 does notcontact the nozzle surface but the header portion of the wiper blade 43protrudes by a prescribed length beyond the nozzle surface 141 of therecording heads 14 as shown in FIG. 10A. In this condition, when themoving recording heads 14 contact the wiper blade 43, as shown in FIG.10B, the wiper blade 43 bends and the header portion of the wiper blade43 is in contact with and pressed toward the nozzle surface 141. As aresult, as the recording heads 14 move, the ink droplets and foreignmatter attached to the nozzle surface 141 are wiped off and removed.Then, the recording heads 14 further move. When the end of the nozzlesurface 141 passes over the header portion of the bent wiper blade 43and the header portion of the wiper blade 43 separates from the nozzlesurface 141 and while the bend of the wiper blade 43 is returned to itsidle position, both end portions of the wiper blade 43 contact thecorresponding convex parts 48 of the blade contacting sections 49 of thereaction force eliminating member 44 and the reaction force generatedwhen the bent of the wiper blade 43 is straightened is absorbed by thespring characteristic of the reaction force eliminating member 44 so asto return the wiper blade 43 to its idle position. Because of thisfeature, the reaction force generated when the bend of the wiper blade43 is suddenly straightened can be controlled, thereby preventing theink droplets and foreign matter attached to the header portion of thewiper blade 43 from being scattered and avoiding the contamination inthe device main body 1 of the inkjet recording device and thedegradation of the quality of the forming images.

When the recording heads 14 passed beyond the maintaining and restoringmechanical section 36, the supporting member 45 with the wiper blade 43and reaction force eliminating member 44 fixed to the supporting member45 is lifted down to a prescribed position by rotating the axle cam 55of the blade elevating mechanical section 46.

To remove and replace the wiper blade 43 of the maintaining andrestoring mechanical section 36, the axle cam 55 of the blade elevatingmechanical section 46 is rotated so that the cut-out section 57 of theplate cam 54 is positioned at the boss 51 for elevating the supportingmember 45 and the supporting member 45 is pulled out of the bladeelevating mechanical section 46. Then the wiper blade 43 and thereaction force eliminating member 44 are removed from the supportingmember 45 and replaced by a new wiper blade 43 and a new reaction forceeliminating member 44. In this manner, wiper blade 43 can be replacedeasily and the maintenance operation can be performed easily.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments,and variations and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention.

The present application is based on and claims the benefit of priorityof Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-059388, filed on Mar. 9, 2007the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. An inkjet recording device comprising: a recording head ejecting inkdroplets to record a character and an image onto a recording medium; acarriage with the recording head mounted thereon performing a round-tripscanning movement; a wiping unit including: a wiper blade made of anelastic body and formed in a tabular shape for wiping a nozzle surfaceof the recording head, the wiper blade including end portions disposedat respective ends in a longitudinal direction of the wiper blade, and aheader portion configured to include a side edge extending in thelongitudinal direction of the wiper blade and to contact and wipe thenozzle surface of the recording head; a reaction force eliminatingmember having a flat plate shape, wherein the reaction force eliminatingmember and the wiper blade are disposed to be parallel to, and facing,each other, the reaction force eliminating member includes a baseportion having upper end parts disposed to correspond to the respectiveend portions of the wiper blade, and the reaction force eliminatingmember further includes blade contacting sections protruding from therespective upper end parts of the base portion and having respectiveconvex parts disposed on the blade contacting sections, the convex partsbeing disposed beyond the base portion in the longitudinal direction ofthe wiper blade and in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection of the wiper blade in a plane of the reaction forceeliminating member, and to protrude from the plane of the respectiveblade contacting sections to contact the respective end portions of thewiper blade, and the reaction force eliminating member has springcharacteristics to absorb a reaction force of the wiper blade generatedwhen the header portion of the wiper blade separates from the nozzlesurface of the recording head and a bend of the wiper blade isstraightened at a termination of a wiping operation through the endportions contacting the corresponding convex parts of the bladecontacting sections of the reaction force eliminating member to returnthe wiper blade to an upright position; and a supporting membersupporting the wiper blade and the reaction force eliminating member;and a blade elevating unit disposed within a scanning range of thecarriage and moving the wiping unit upward and downward in the heightdirection of the nozzle surface of the recording head.
 2. The inkjetrecording device according to claim 1, wherein the reaction forceeliminating member is made of a material having a Young's modulus higherthan that of the wiper blade.
 3. The inkjet recording device accordingto claim 1, wherein the supporting member is removably attached to theblade elevating unit.
 4. The inkjet recording device according to claim1, wherein the reaction force eliminating member is made of an elasticmaterial having a spring characteristic.
 5. The inkjet recording deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the reaction force eliminating member ismade of a metallic material having a spring characteristic.
 6. Theinkjet recording device according to claim 1, wherein the reaction forceeliminating member is made of a resin material having a springcharacteristic.
 7. The inkjet recording device according to claim 1,wherein each of the convex parts has a substantially point contactrelationship with the wiping blade at the upright position.
 8. Theinkjet recording device according to claim 1, wherein each of the convexparts has a hemispherical shape.
 9. The inkjet recording deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the convex parts of the reaction forceeliminating member first contact the wiping blade after the wiper bladeseparates from the nozzle surface of the recording head and the bend ofthe wiper blade is straightened to absorb the reaction force with aspring characteristic of the reaction force eliminating member while thewiper blade is returned to the upright position.
 10. The inkjetrecording device according to claim 1, wherein the reaction forceeliminating member has a spring characteristic and reduces the reactionforce generated when the wiper blade separates from the nozzle surfaceof the recording head by absorbing the reaction force with the springcharacteristic of the reaction force eliminating member while the wiperblade is returned to the upright position.
 11. The inkjet recordingdevice according to claim 1, wherein when the wiper blade and thereaction force eliminating member are attached uprightly to thesupporting member, a height of the reaction force eliminating member isgreater than a half of a height of the wiper blade and is lower than theheight of the wiper blade.
 12. The inkjet recording device according toclaim 11, wherein the wiper blade is in contact with the reaction forceeliminating member face at a position higher than the half of the heightof the wiper blade.
 13. The inkjet recording device according to claim1, wherein the blade elevating unit moves the supporting member andwiper blade attached uprightly to the supporting member upward anddownward in the height direction of the nozzle surface of the recordinghead.
 14. The inkjet recording device according to claim 1, wherein thewiper blade bends away from and loses contact with the convex parts ofthe reaction force eliminating member.